20 YEARS AGO June 14, 2003
Twenty years ago, the BDN’s Bill Trotter was introducing readers to an exciting new-fangled technology called wireless fidelity, or “Wi-Fi”, for short. It’s hard to believe that it was only 20 years ago that something as utterly ubiquitous as wireless internet was considered an amazing new thing. Downeast.net, a long-defunct internet service provider in Ellsworth, erected a signal hub from its roof in downtown Ellsworth, which offered free wifi in a fairly large radius around its building. It was believed to be the first free public wifi in Maine. |
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 | | 40 YEARS AGO
June 11, 1983
Plenty of people believe that what goes on in the Maine legislature is akin to a zoo. On June 15, 1983, however, that was actually somewhat true, as a bat found its way into the legislative chambers and dive-bombed lawmakers during sessions that day. While bats do sometimes hang out in the upper reaches of the capitol’s dome, they don’t typically make their way into the actual chambers. Legislators apparently used rolled-up newspapers to try to swat at the bat, and Rep. Tony Tammaro of Baileyville nearly caught it. In the end. Rep. Donald Strout of Corinth caught it in an ashtray, wrapped it in a BDN and released it outside.
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 | | 50 YEARS AGO
June 11, 1973 After reporting on Monday, June 11 that a bill that outlawed hitchhiking in Maine had been repealed, the BDN realized quickly it had made a big error. That repeal of that bill had been killed in committee, and hitchhiking was still illegal in most situations, including on Interstate 95. Even today, it’s illegal. Luckily, BDN photographer Jack Loftus was able to find a group of young people hitchhiking on the highway in Bangor and snapped a photo. Unluckily for them, a Maine state trooper ushered them off the road. It’s too bad — maybe they were on their way to go dream the Shrimpossible Dream at the Bonanza Restaurant on Union Street. |
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60 YEARS AGO June 15, 1963
In 1963 the entire country was roiled by the Civil Rights movement, which reached a fever pitch on June 11 of that year when Gov. George Wallace of Alabama attempted to physically block two Black students from attending the University of Alabama, even after President Kennedy signed an executive order requiring him to allow them to attend classes. The next day, civil rights leader Medgar Evers was murdered in Mississippi by a white supremacist. In Maine, church bells rang at 12:15 on June 15, to honor Evers’ funeral and to show support for the cause of civil rights for all. |
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100 YEARS AGO June 12, 1923
File this one under “things we did not know.” We did know that J. Norman Towle co-owned and then fully owned the Bangor Daily News from shortly after its founding in 1889 until 1929, when he sold it to his son-in-law, Fred Jordan — grandfather to current BDN publisher Richard J. Warren. We did not know, however, that in addition to owning the Exchange Street building where the paper was written and printed, 100 years ago this week Towle also bought the Bijou Theatre. The Bijou was a legendary Exchange Street theater and movie house that was among the last of Bangor’s many theaters to be demolished, finally succumbing to the urban renewal wrecking ball in 1974. We're not sure exactly how long Towle owned it, but the Bijou was certainly at the peak of its popularity in the 1920s, during the vaudeville and silent movie era. |
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